Sensex ends below 19700, rail stocks rally post hike

The Indian markets ended in red today ahead of the earnings season with both the Sensex and Nifty ending below their psychological marks of 19700 and 6,000, respectively.

"Trend at D-street emerged to be just contrary to previous session's trend as bout of selling pressure, which was witnessed in the last hour of trade, mainly putting bulls to rest, prompted second negative close for Indian equity markets for Calendar Year 2013, with the first one being on January 7," said Nirmal Bang in a research report.

Two-wheeler makers such as Bajaj Auto retreated after an industry body cut its estimates for motorcycle sales, while software services exporters such as Tata Consultancy Services fell ahead of upcoming earnings results.

The Sensex ended the day down 87.12 points at 19655.40, while the Nifty closed down 30.80 points at 5970.90. The rupee gained four paise to 54.94 against the dollar.

Railway stocks like Titagarh Wag, Kalindee Rail Nirman and Texmaco Rail & Engineering rallied after the Railways Minister announced hike in fares from January 21. However, he added, there will be no increase in fares in February rail budget. The fare hike will yield Rs 66 billion in revenues.

HPCL rallied 6% on hopes to sell bulk buyers diesel at market prices after Government sources told NewsWire18 that oil companies may be allowed to do so.

Meanwhile, CRISIL Research predicted that India's GDP will grow at a higher rate of 6.7% in 2013-14 in comparison to 5.5% estimated for the current fiscal due to a revival in consumption.

Domestic car sales fell by 12.51 per cent to 1,41,083 units in December last year compared to 1,61,247 units in the same month in 2011.

According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) today, motorcycle sales last month went up by 4.83 per cent to 8,44,113 units from 8,05,198 units in December, 2011.